Education Schools Flunking Math

(AP)  For kids to do better in math, their teachers might have to go back to school.

Elementary-school teachers are poorly prepared by education schools to teach math, finds a study being released Thursday by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Math relies heavily on cumulative knowledge, making the early years critical.

The study by the nonpartisan research and advocacy group comes a few months after a federal panel reported that U.S. students have widespread difficulty with fractions, a problem that arises in elementary school and prevents kids from mastering more complicated topics like algebra later on.

The report looked at 77 elementary education programs around the country, or roughly 5 percent of the institutions that offer undergraduate elementary teacher certification.

It found the programs, within colleges and universities, spend too little time on elementary math topics.

Author Julie Greenberg said education students should be taking courses that give them a deeper understanding of arithmetic and multiplication. She said the courses should explain how math concepts build upon each other and why certain ideas need to be emphasized in the classroom.

Teacher candidates know their multiplication tables, but "they don't come to us knowing why multiplication works the way it does," said Denise Mewborn, who heads the University of Georgia department of math and science education.

The university was cited in the report for having an "exemplary program," while nine others met basic requirements. The rest offered too little math coursework or coursework that was considered weak, according to the report.

The University of Georgia requires teacher candidates to take courses to help them understand concepts underlying elementary-school math, as well as math courses not designed for teachers.

The report found significant differences in the number and kind of courses required by each education program.

Education schools also are not being selective enough, the report stated. Most require applicants to take an admissions test, usually around their sophomore year of college. But the test, which typically includes reading, writing and math sections, is far too easy, according to the report.

"Almost anyone can get in. Compared to the admissions standards found in other countries, American education schools set exceedingly low expectations for the mathematics knowledge that aspiring teachers must demonstrate," said the report.

U.S. children often fall in the middle or bottom of the pack when compared to other students on international math tests.

Jane West, vice president of government relations for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, said her organization had not received a copy of the report Wednesday. The National Council on Teacher Quality plans to release it publicly at a news conference Thursday.

The report also criticized the tests education students take when they complete their coursework, which are generally relied on by states in granting teacher licenses. In many cases, the prospective teachers are judged on an overall score only, meaning they could do badly on the math portion but still pass if they do well in the other areas.

Since states oversee the preparation of the nation's school teachers, the report recommends they set tougher coursework and testing standards.

Francis Fennell, the past president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, said the report fails to examine the math instruction students receive while attending community colleges, where many elementary-school teachers start their higher education.

He also said the study's authors should have surveyed teachers to get their views on how well prepared they were to teach math.

Fennell, who instructs teacher candidates in math at McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., said a common area of weakness among his students is fractions - the same subject the national math panel described as a weak area for kids. "Part of the reason the kids don't know it is because the teachers aren't transmitting that," he said.

To boost teachers' understanding of math, the math departments at universities ought to place more emphasis on training educators, Fennell added.

[downsteamjim]

Remember the words of Inhern: We teach children algebra so that when they have children they can help their children with algebra.

Nancy_Naive, I live in Oklahoma.....our taxes are a bit lower than most states...I guess. I leave all the up to my accountant. She is still getting a decent return on my investment and I see my ROTH grow every year, even when the economy looks bad. I stored my T-Bird and bought a used Nissan Sentra getting 40 MPG....GOD I miss my T-Bird...

[loneeagle57]

I think these schools are flunking more then math. It has been awhile but very few teachers i have had the opportunity of dealing with refuse to help the students that want to learn. I think these teachers need to go back and learn what teaching is actually about

[jlagat]

And about gun rulings...don''''t get me started......people have taken the second ammendment and beat it to death.....a law that was written in 1776 does not ring true for today....foreign armies are not storming our houses, that is why that law was written....

Posted by mitchoncbs at 12:23 PM : Jun 26, 2008

These days the second amendment is kept up for a different reason. For example, take Burma (Myanmar). If the people there had the right to carry weapons (and chose to do so), that military government wouldn''t last 5 mins.

The second amendment makes sure that if our government choses to decide to eliminate our basic liberties, tens of millions of armed americans would go and get rid of the government.

Taking away the second amendment would take away the fear of an administration imposing its complete will on the people, whether we like it or not. Many would say they would trust the government to protect the constitution. But who is to say they wouldn''t violate that trust?

Nancy are you affiliated with Primaerica?

Nancy_Naive, by the end of 30 years I will have just over that...I haven''t hit that mark yet....if I led you to believe I had reached the 3M mark by now, then I need to look back to what I wrote. and I am not married, that didn''t work out, so I decided to devote my time to my daughter and education....marriage just didn''t cut it for me after ten years.

And about gun rulings...don''t get me started......people have taken the second ammendment and beat it to death.....a law that was written in 1776 does not ring true for today....foreign armies are not storming our houses, that is why that law was written....

[slim1h2o]

Have a nice time "debating" boys and girls.
Try not to kick to much sand out of the box, will ya?

That is intriguing...like we just sat in the corner and started talking. I have a good financial planner, and I am comfortable with what I have. I would be foolish to move now that then end is so near. I have seen and read about people that do exactly what you are referring to and end up losing everything they have saved up for. I am locked and happy. And yes, I will have a fixed income of 19K a year....you see, there is no one in my family that has lived past 75, NO ONE!! My father passed away when ihe was 43, my sister is going to die within a year and my mother is on oxygen 24/7 for working in a restaurant for 30 years breathing everyone''s cigarette smoke. I am 47, and with a tax free ROTH IRA, I can move 3M to separate accounts and live on 19K a month for just over 13 years...when I retire that is. If I do wait until I am 67 to retire legally, that will take me to when I am 80...so the numbers do work for me. I also have tons of insurance I can easily cash in if necessary, but I won''t take away my daughter''s inheritance...

Nancy_Naive, since 1998 I have an an increase of an average of 12%...why would I want to move? Because I believe someone I don''t even know? Are you the person who is on the other line when I pick up the phone trying to sell me things? You know what I am talking about...working for a company that has a phone bank and a computer makes all the calls?